Many users enjoy watching streaming media content on their devices. For example, a user can request that a video from a video hosting service be played back on a mobile device. However, for some devices and/or for some types of connections, the time required to load and begin playing an item of media content can be slow. This can lead to frustration for the user. For example, this may cause the user to abort the request when the user cannot determine if the video has encountered an error during the loading process.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide new methods, systems, and media for presenting interstitial animations.